UNESCO is promoting International Jazz Day to “foster greater appreciation not only for the music but also for the contribution it can make to building more inclusive societies.” We’re in!!!

Instagram food pics by Carl the Roaster remind me of a lovely charcuterie board at the Gatehouse in London’s Highgate area.

A Jazz-Fest inspired recipe: to soothe our lonesome-for-NOLA feelings, I made a Muffuletta Pasta Salad.

Jazz Fest was supposed to start today, but it was a casualty of COVID-19. There are still things to celebrate, though. Music, in general. Jazz Fest music, in particular. WWOZ is hosting “Festing in Place: An On-Air Festival” on the radio and live-streaming. Yay!

What does it really look like when we get down the road? It’s up to us, isn’t it? This is no time to blink.

Burgers are classic comfort food, a warm and satisfying heartland-conjuring entree you can eat with your hands, accompanied by sides you can also grab and gobble. We’ve perfected our recipe in a dozen years of cooking together.

We are all armchair travelers right now during the trials of COVID-19, and today I’m thinking of an afternoon stroll, a long conversation and the birds in St. James Park.

I just had a great time in the kitchen, prepping Glover Gardens Double Trouble Burgers while watching a 2016 TCM Classic Film Festival interview of Faye Dunaway by Ben Mankiewicz of TCM.

In the winter of our COVID-19 discontent, spring is a reminder that resilience, empathy and love are the strongest contagions.

A light-hearted but hopefully provocative food-snob rant during a ghastly and unpredictable pandemic.

And then, all of the sudden, it flew away, wafting on the breeze high above the cypress trees, its wings fluttering a timeless message: fear not, only believe.

The Grill-Meister and I have been watching a fair amount of old movies in the evenings during this coronavirus crisis. Bob Mondello, NPR’s movie critic, is on the same page.

A solo trip to a botanical garden was a tonic in troubled times and the inspiration for a poem.

I had a really good day on April 1, 2017. It’s hard to believe it was just 3 years ago. It seems like a really different world today as the whole human race grapples with the coronavirus.

Graduate studies in Studio Jazz Writing (composition), along with a paid teaching assistance-ship and a Fellowship at the Henry Mancini Institute are on the docket.

People all across the UK showed their gratitude for the sacrifices of those in the National Health Care System who are on the front line of the crisis – and they were doing it together, but from a safe distance.

TCM has found an alternative, innovative and high-spirited way to go forward with their film festival, stopping the coronovirus from killing the event altogether.

My mom used to make little toasts like this, but the recipe has been lost, so I made up a new one. The Grill-Meister was a big fan.

Physical isolation and all of the uncertainty brought about by Covid-19’s impact to our entire existence is the new normal, and it’s time to rejoin the social world.